To The Golf Courses of Yesteryear

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Frankfurter Golf Club, Hof Goldstein. (1912 - 1928)

In June 1912 the City of Frankfurt gave permission to build a golf course at Hof Goldstein. In 1913 Frankfurter Golf Club leased an area of 25 hectares from the city of Frankfurt.

In August 1913 the magazine “Lawn-Tennis und Golf” reported on the completion of the golf course as well as the conversion of the former mansion of the Hofgut Goldstein located in a beautiful park into a clubhouse. The design of the 9-hole course was carried out by Frankfurt-based English consul Charles F. Gardner, who had been a member of the board of the Bad Homburger Golf Club since 1907 and had been running the Green Committee there since 1911. It is said that he imported all building material including the smallest nails from Great Britain.

On Thursday September 4th 1913 the golf course of the Frankfurt Golf Club was officially opened. Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein played the opening match against the first Frankfurt Professional Joseph G. Longhurst, formerly Homburger Golf Club (since 1903, every summer) and Royal Ascot Golf Club (regularly in winter).

The nine-hole golf course at Goldstein measured 2,256 meters with a bogey of 37. It was, at the time, one of the longest courses in the German Reich. There were even separate ladies tees on the seven longer holes. The ladies course measured 1,922 meters with a bogey 36.

The joy of the new course did not last long and after the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914 the course was abandoned. Parts of the course were used to cultivate vegetables and on the remaining area hay was harvested. At the end of the war French soldiers occupied the clubhouse.

The location of the Goldstein golf course was in the occupied area after the Ruhr occupation at the beginning of 1923 and this gave rise to new difficulties adversely affecting all golfing activities. It was only after the lifting of traffic barriers that the course could be played regularly again. The course had suffered a lot of damage during the war and much work was needed to bring it back to the required standard. In 1925, an English professional player and green-keeper, Bert Hambrook, was hired.

When golf was fully re-established at Goldstein from the mid-twenties onwards it quickly became clear that the Goldstein facility was outdated. It was therefore decided by the club to redesign the course to the modern criteria. This work was carried out between October 1926 and March 1927 according to the plans of the British golf architecture firm of Colt & Co.

Pictures of Frankfurter golf in the 1920s.

The opening of the upgraded course, which had been extended by 519 meters to 2,775 meters (for men), took place on April 2nd 1927. On the redesigned course tactical abilities of the golfer were challenged. Most of the old-fashioned and outdated penal cross-bunkers were done away with, only a couple remaining.

Layout of the Goldstein course in 1927

View of the redesigned course.

Shortly after the redesign of the golf course at Goldstein in 1927 a project was put forward to construct a new 18-hole course, again the plans were to be drawn up by Colt & Co. The new golf course at Niederrad was officially opened 30th September 1928 with a country match against Holland.

The opening of this new course inevitably led to the closure of the golfing facility at Hof Goldstein.

Christoph Meister, 2013.

The Google Map below pinpoints the location of the former Goldstein course.